Thursday, February 12, 2015

Censoring LGBT Art

The Advocate has some information posted about a new art exhibit dealing with LGBT previously censored or challenge. The exhibition's curator says:

“The exhibition draws inspiration from the innovative responses to watershed moments in the history of censoring LGBTQ art in Canada, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. In concept, the show is principally drawn from two events: the censorship of Robert Mapplethorpe’s art in the 1980s and 1990s and the more recent withdrawal of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly from the National Portrait Gallery in 2010. In practice, it seizes on the international fame of these controversies to delve deeper into the many ways that censorship functions in queer artistic life.”

Given today's climate of increasing acceptance of LGBT people, it's easy to forget that not long ago, art made by gay people, exploring gay themes, was routinely challenged and viewed as immoral or even dangerous.